Despite back-to-back losses, the Philadelphia Eagles are still tied for first place in the NFC East and in contention for the conference’s top playoff seed.
With four consecutive defeats, the Seattle Seahawks have gone from atop the NFC West to needing to make up ground for a wild-card playoff berth.
So plenty will be on the line when the Eagles (10-3) visit the Seahawks (6-7) in the first NFL game to be flexed to Monday night.
“You don’t win without some type of adversity,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said. “That’s just the name of it. We’d love to come out here and be perfect. But perfection is only an illusion.”
The schedule over the past month has been difficult for both teams.
The Eagles defeated Kansas City and Buffalo, then lost to San Francisco and Dallas, allowing the host Cowboys to pull into a first-place tie in the division with a 33-13 victory last Sunday night.
“We’ve played a lot of high-profile games here before and executed well. I don’t think it is the magnitude,” Eagles center Jason Kelce said after his team lost three fumbles to Dallas. “These are good teams, and you can’t make mistakes against good teams. We’ve done far too much of that.”
The Eagles have games against Seattle and Arizona and two against the New York Giants remaining. Those three teams have a combined record of 14-25.
“You can’t even look that far ahead,” Eagles receiver A.J. Brown said. “We play Seattle (this) week. That’s the only thing we need to worry about.”
The Eagles are relatively healthy, with only cornerback Darius Slay (knee), linebacker Zach Cunningham (knee) and offensive lineman Cameron Jurgens (pectoral) missing practice this week.
The Seahawks have lost twice in the past three weeks to the division-leading 49ers, including 28-16 last Sunday in Santa Clara, Calif., as Drew Lock started in place of injured quarterback Geno Smith (groin).
Seattle’s skid is its longest since Pete Carroll took over as coach in 2010.
“That was just really frustrating because this was a chance to beat these guys at their place. We had a shot to do that,” Carroll said of the last game against the 49ers, in which the Seahawks allowed 527 total yards. “We moved the football well enough to get some points on the board. We weren’t able to stop them all (day) long. We didn’t get it done.”
Smith returned to practice in a limited capacity Thursday and the Seahawks are hopeful he can return with an extra day’s rest. Safety Jamal Adams (knee), linebackers Jordyn Brooks (ankle) and Nick Bellore (knee) and cornerback Devon Witherspoon (hip) have missed practice time.
“It’s a challenge at this point of the season to see if we can make it through (to the playoffs),” Carroll said. “The fourth quarter of this season is still there for us, and we’ll see if we can. I believe these guys are going to bounce back and be ready to go again. We’ve got to get back on track.”
–Field Level Media